The legislature’s Judiciary, Organic Laws and Statues Committee yesterday completed its first review of the amendment to the Statute Governing Preferential Treatment to Retired Presidents and Vice Presidents (卸任總統副總統禮遇條例).
The amendment stipulates that retired presidents or vice presidents found guilty of corruption or other major crimes in a first trial would have all preferential treatment terminated. The treatment would be reinstated and their monthly pensions compensated if he or she were proved innocent after a third and final trial.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators argued with their Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) counterparts, saying that nobody should be considered guilty until all avenues of appeal have been tried.
“Is this the human rights we are fighting for?” DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said.
“This is indeed the spirit that everybody is fighting for,” said Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Lai Feng-wei (賴峰偉), who also attended the meeting. “However, we also need to make minor adjustments every now and then because of changing public views.”
The amendment was proposed by KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), but was rejected by the DPP caucus. DPP members said Wu’s proposal targeted former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Despite the DPP’s appeals, KMT legislative caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) said KMT members had already resolved to support Wu’s proposal prior to the meeting.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
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